


Workplace Hazards

by SuburbanSun



Category: Superstore (TV)
Genre: Bickering, F/M, Fluff, Overprotective, Pregnancy, season 4
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-01
Updated: 2018-11-01
Packaged: 2019-08-05 00:56:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,130
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16357520
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuburbanSun/pseuds/SuburbanSun
Summary: “Jonah, we’ve been over this. You’vegotto stop being so protective.”





	Workplace Hazards

**Author's Note:**

  * For [klutzy_girl](https://archiveofourown.org/users/klutzy_girl/gifts).



“Hey, Amy, do you think we need any--” Jonah stopped short as he rounded the corner, his eyes growing wide. “Amy, what the hell are you doing?”

Amy furrowed her brow and looked down the aisle at him. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m restocking the toilet paper.” She placed another pack of Charmin on the top shelf and her frown deepened. “You know, it’s been selling like hotcakes this week. I wonder if some kind of intense stomach virus is going around.”

“Okay, first of all, gross,” Jonah said, stepping carefully around boxes full of toilet paper as he approached her. “Secondly, are you sure you should be using a step ladder? In your--” he lowered his voice-- “condition?”

From atop the short stepladder, Amy groaned, letting her head fall back in annoyance. “Jonah, we’ve been over this. You’ve got to stop being so protective.”

He held up both hands placatingly. “I’m not!”

“Also, it’s literally two steps,” she said, punctuating her point by taking two quick strides down onto the tile floor. “See? Can that even be called a ladder, really?”

Jonah shrugged, crossing his arms over his chest. “It has rungs.”

“ _Two_ rungs.”

He glanced gingerly at the step ladder, appraising it as if it were some kind of death trap.

Sighing, she peered down the aisle around him, and upon seeing that the coast was clear, reached out to run her hands up his biceps. They were still keeping this-- _thing_ \-- between them a secret at work, and she’d hate for his overprotectiveness to ruin that.

“You trust me,” she said, squeezing his arms.

“Of course.”

“And you respect me.”

He swallowed, and his face did the funny thing it always did when he worried he’d said or done something vaguely misogynistic without realizing it. “You have my _utmost_ respect.”

“Then can you please trust and respect that I know what I’m doing, and that I wouldn’t do anything that might put my unborn child at risk?”

Jonah’s mouth opened and closed a few times before he nodded emphatically.

“Good.” She let her hands drop from his sides. “Now help me with this toilet paper. If there really is something going around, we’re gonna need a hell of a lot more triple-ply.”

They stocked in silence for a few minutes. (Amy relegated Jonah to the bottom-shelf budget rolls and climbed back onto the step ladder to keep stacking the good stuff, just to prove a point.)

“You know it’s not because I don’t trust you, right?” Jonah said at length.

Amy rolled her eyes. “Of course I do.”

“Because I know you’ve done this before, and I haven’t,” he continued, standing up from a crouch, a pack of Cloud 9 brand single-ply gripped firmly in one hand.

“That’s correct.”

“And Emma turned out great--”

She cocked her head to the side, a hint of defensiveness flaring up within her. “Well, obviously she did.”

“--and that’s because of you, and you’re a terrific mom, and there’s absolutely nothing to worry about--”

He was really working himself into a lather, gesturing wildly with the toilet tissue, his eyes unfocused. “Jonah--”

“--and just because the world is full of heavy things that can fall on people, and things you can fall _off,_ and things that are easily tripped on, and downed power lines, and asbestos, and global warming--"

“Is asbestos still a big issue?”

“--doesn’t mean something bad’s _necessarily_ going to happen to you or to my kid or to--”

Amy’s eyebrows shot up. “I’m sorry-- _your kid_?”

That finally seemed to snap Jonah out of his panicked reverie, and his eyes met Amy’s, his mouth gaping open. “Ahh. I meant--”

She stepped down from the ladder and crossed her arms, looking up at him expectantly.

“I meant. Um. _Your_ kid. Your baby. Yours and-- and Adam’s kid, really, much more so than mine.”

“Uh huh.”

Jonah nervously tapped the pack of toilet paper against the palm of his free hand, then used it to gesture at her stomach. “I wasn’t, ah, particularly involved in the making of that little one.”

Amy let out a dark chuckle. “No, you really weren’t.”

He took a step back, even as Amy took a step toward him. “And, hey, I actually think I heard Garrett call my name over the intercom just now--”

“I didn’t hear anything.”

“Well, then, Amy, sounds like it’s time for someone to get their ears checked,” he said with an awkward laugh and another step backward.

“Jonah.” She pinned him with a look, and he sucked in a breath.

“Yeah?”

One corner of her mouth quirked up, and she shook her head at his obvious discomfort. “It’s okay. I think it’s actually kind of sweet that you’re so invested in my pregnancy.”

Jonah let out a sigh, the pack of toilet paper in his hand dropping to the floor with a very quiet thud. “It’s not-- I mean, I don’t-- you know I don’t _actually_ think it’s my kid, right? That just sort of… slipped out.”

She reached forward and squeezed his hand. “I know. And I appreciate that you care so much. About me, and about Emma, and about this future little guy or girl.”

His smile was fond, and his eyes flicked briefly to her stomach before meeting her gaze again. “I really do.”

“C’mon,” she said, bending awkwardly to pick up the dropped pack of paper. “Let’s finish up here.” He nodded, and they quietly got back to work.

“You hear that, little baby?” Jonah said after a moment in an exaggerated, sing-song voice as he settled an 8-pack of Cottonelle on its rightful shelf. “Your mommy appreciates me."

Amy glared at him. She hated when people talked to her stomach and he knew it. “You know, I think I do hear Garrett calling you over the intercom, actually.”

“Did you hear anything, little baby? Because I didn't. Don’t you think your mommy needs to get her ears checked?”

“Mmhmm, yep, definitely heard him. He said there’s a big mess in Dairy. Huge.”

Jonah set the last pack of paper on the shelf and grinned as he began to back away. “I’ll be back to talk to you later, little baby. Maybe I’ll sing you a little song.”

“I hope it’s melted butter,” Amy said as he reached the end of the aisle. “A gigantic puddle of greasy, slippery melted butter for you to clean up all by yourself.”

His grin widened, and he discreetly blew her a kiss as he disappeared around the corner.

Amy shook her head and folded up the step ladder, the scowl on her face fading into a private smile.

Whatever Jonah was going to be to her baby, he was going to be a good one.


End file.
